LVG dreams of derby win

Manchester United manager Van Gaal finds his team positioned as favourites ahead of tomorrow’s derby at Old Trafford and said: ‘I dream of it. Every player should dream of the victory.

‘Of course I want to win because it’s a big step up the table also. If we win then third place is available.

‘A few months ago, nobody would have thought about that, apart from me.

‘If we win then the position in the table is good as we would then almost certainly be qualified for the top four. And if we are third it’s better than the goal we set in pre-season.’

City are likely to take a chance on captain Vincent Kompany despite concerns over his injured hamstring and the defending champions will face a hugely motivated United side. Van Gaal has claimed that, in some ways, facing their neighbours will be a more straightforward game than last week’s 3-1 victory over Aston Villa.

‘I had more fear for Aston Villa than City,’ he said. ‘That’s because I don’t expect City just to play defensively.’

City manager Manuel Pellegrini insisted that he was unimpressed by United’s recent revival, saying: ‘They brought a lot of very good players so for me the strange thing was why they didn’t do it before, earlier in the season.

‘At the moment we need to improve but we are a not a disaster, we are not a mess. We are doing a lot of things well.’

City have won the last four derbies but Van Gaal pointed out that this was not his responsibility.

‘That’s not my history,’ he said. ‘I have lost one game 1-0. That’s my history.’ – Daily Mail